420 sailors on top of the world

Carrie Smith and Ella Clark were crowned Youth World Champions in the girls 420 class during the international event, improving on their fourth place in 2011 and second in 2012.

Smith said they were lucky to be the only Australian team in the race and do so well.

‘It took a lot of dedication and hard work to get where we are now,’ she said. ‘We had a very good score line throughout the event, not one race outside the top 10, which helped us a lot but our rivals the Italians were battling hard against us.

‘We were nine points ahead of them going into the last day but we found out they had been disqualified so we had secured the gold medal.

‘Standing on top of the podium singing our national anthem was the best feeling ever because we had achieved a very long-term goal.’